Jabalpur BJP minority cell president Mohammad Shafi denies humiliating the man, says some of his men were playing a practical joke and he stopped them.

The teenager consumed poison on Saturday and is admitted to hospital.(Shutterstock Representative Photo)

A 19-year-old college student in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur city attempted suicide after videos of her father being abused and publicly humiliated, allegedly by a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and some others, went viral, police said on Sunday.

The teenager consumed poison on Saturday and is admitted to hospital. She told the police many of her friends had seen the purported videos in which Jabalpur’s BJP minority cell city unit president Mohammad Shafi and a few others are forcing her 48-year-old father to get into the ‘murga’ position. ‘Murga’ position is notorious as a punishment and requires a person to squat, put arms beneath the legs and reach out to hold the ears.

“We have taken her statement and are investigating the case,” said Hanumantal police station in-charge Pratulya Shrivastava. “No one has been arrested so far,” he added.

Three videos of the alleged humiliation are doing the rounds on social media. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos, which were shot on Friday.

Shafi did not deny he was in the videos, but said it was a practical joke his men were playing on a fellow Muslim. He said he scolded his men and made them end the joke.

Shafi said his men had bet that the girl’s father would not be able to pick up a Rs 100 note with his mouth while in ‘murga’ position. “I scolded my men and asked them to stop doing such things. The video has been made viral by Congressmen who are rattled by the fact the many Muslims are leaving their party and joining the BJP. This is political vendetta,” he added.

The victim of the joke, however, had a different version. “I had chided Shafi’s brother for smoking in my house. It annoyed him and he took away my mobile phone. I had gone to their godown to get it back. There Shafi and his men roughed me up and also humiliated me,” he said.

Jabalpur district BJP president GS Thakur said the incident had come to his notice. “I have asked for detailed report from all the parties concerned and will forward it to the state BJP president,” he said.